All I Never Wanted
by Oblivious Princess
Summary: My first submission here on . Follow Avatar Quinn on her journey to learn the four elements and battle a mysterious opponent out to conquer the whole world! Characters from ATLA may be used in later chapters. T because of some future violence and language
1. Chapter 1

Mercedes Jones strode down the hallways of the Fire Nation palace with a purpose. She was tired of all the dancing around this matter that the soldiers and even the Fire Lord had been doing since that morning. She rounded a corner and whizzed past a frightened guard. That in itself spoke volumes of her determination. The Fire Nation soldiers were scared of few things.

She knew the palace like the back of her hand so it took no big amount of time to reach her destination. The door that hastily came into view was one of the more grandiose and decorated doors with two golden dragons lining the frame on either side. The guard that stood watch could not have moved faster away if a live dragon was chasing him. The royal advisor stopped now and took a deep breath, preparing herself for the battle that was about to commence. She then knocked firmly on the door.

It was about to go down.

"Go away!" A female voice yelled from inside the room, choking on tears from the sound of it. Mercedes' expression immidiately changed from fierce to sympathetic. It was like seeing a fire suddenly just stop and die down to a few sadly glowing embers.

"Babydoll? It's me. Can I come in?" She asked gently. There was some sniffling from inside the room and the sound of fabrics rubbing against eachother. A few moments of silence followed and she waited patiently.

"Don't bring anyone else." The voice said weakly. Mercedes allowed herself a sad little smile and opened the door slowly. She stepped in and closed it behind her, locking it just for good measure. She then turned and looked at the sorroundings.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. Everything was in its place, as it had always been in this immaculate room. The only thing that indicated something was wrong was the person on the bed. The Fire Princess sat on the edge of her king size bed, tears having left long trails down her cheeks since long before now. Neither said anything as the advisor went over and sat down next to the princess. For a few moments, the only sound in the room was that of the princess' sniffling. Then the girl spoke up.

"I don't want this, you know." She punctuated this by wiping at her cheek with the back of her hand. The effort was lost as more tears just continued to run down her face. Mercedes looked at her, saying nothing.

"I mean it. I didn't want any of this and to have it forced on me is certinly not on my priority list." A broken sob escaped her lips and she ducked her head. Mercedes sighed, the sympathetic look never leaving her face.

"Well you wouldn't be the first to have this kind of thing forced on you." She said sadly. This caused the princess to release another sob and she put her face in her hands for a moment. She willed herself to calm down and looked at her inofficial caretaker of six years. Another long moment of silence followed. Then Mercedes reached over and put her hand on the princess'.

"I didn't want this for you either." She said quietly. The next part was spoken more loudly. "And may the Sun scorch my ass if I let you go through this alone." This earned a weak chuckle from the girl and she smiled, happy to have broken through that crushed state her princess was in. It wasn't much but it was a start. It was short lived though.

"But that's just the thing." The girl said, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "The point of being... what I am, is being alone." Both their hearts sunk as she said this but Mercedes shook her head.

"Dragoncrap. If I have stayed with you this long then I will follow you through this. Ain't no cosmic mumbo jumbo going to stop me from that." She took both the princess' hands in hers and looked into tearful eyes.

"Quinn," the princess almost flinched, no one ever used her real name. It was always 'your highness' or 'princess'. "You listen to me right now. I. Will. Not. Go. Anywhere. You inderstand me? I'll stay with you." She chuckled a little. "If nothing else then just to keep an eye on you." Another smile from Quinn and Mercedes smiled back despite her firm speech. "You understand?"

"I don't-"

"Do. You. Understand?" Quinn almost grinned. Mercedes was the only one in the whole palace besides her parents that spoke to her like she was a normal teenager sometimes. She nodded her head.

"Yes ma'am. I understand." Mercedes grinned and pulled her into a hug which she happily returned. Her nanny's smile gave way to a serious expression when they pulled away.

"Now I will go and talk to your father and tell him that I am going with you on this trip and the Sun be merciful on him if he dares object." Now she was smiling again, indicating the last part as a joke. Quinn giggled as Mercedes stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Quinn waited until the sound of footsteps disappeared before sighing deeply. She stared at the ground for a few moments, contemplating whether or not to pack anything with her for her journey. She was pretty sure her mother had said she shouldn't at some point. That meant she would have to leave all her clothes behind.

Another deep sigh. It was hard to be the Avatar.

It did take some convincing but after an explanation from Mercedes, some desperate begging from Quinn and a final round of argumenting from the queen, the Fire Lord finally agreed to let Quinn bring the royal advisor with her on her travel. This development served to lighten both Quinn's mood and the general mood of the palace considerably for the next three days spent preparing for her journey. Plans were laid out, people convinced the princess that she couldn't bring all her jewelry with her on their trip and when everything was set up and ready, Fire Lord Fabray and his wife pulled Mercedes aside as Quinn said goodbye to everyone.

"I want you to take good care of her." The Fire Lady said. Her husband nodded in agreement with her words. Mercedes smiled.

"It is an honour that I will not take lightly my lord." She looked them both in the eye as she said this. Sufficiently reassured, the pair nodded and said their heartfelt thanks. They knew they could trust her and she knew she couldn't abandon Quinn if she wanted to. She smiled at that thought. After six years of taking care of her young master they were practically joined at the hip and Mercedes loved the girl as her own daughter. She snorted - now that love had sent her packing out of the Fire Nation. She bowed to the royal couple and turned around to look at the girl. Quinn was gently patting her dragon familiar's head and whispering something to it. She looked so at ease like that. She stood up and turned around at Mercedes' approach, a wistful look on her face.

"You ready?" Mercedes grinned at her. She looked depressed now but smiled back anyway.

"Ready as I'll ever be. You could literally say that I was born ready." She chuckled dryly at her own joke. mercedes wasn't fazed.

"Well then hop up." She gestured to the dragon and Quinn chuckled. She hooked one leg in the crook of the dragon's neck and hoisted the other one over the expanse, grabbing onto the horns to keep steady. Mercedes grabbed one horn and copied the movement, settling behind Quinn and hooking both arms around her waist. Quinn slumped slightly in her seat, the sadness of leaving home seeming to catch up with her. Mercedes nudged her and waved to her parents, prompting her to do the same. Quinn smiled again, though this time it was to keep up appearance, and waved. A nudge of the foot to the dragon's neck and they rose up into the sky, still waving at the disappearing crowd. Mercedes sighed as the mainland grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared through the clouds. Quinn sat stiffly, eyes set firmly forward until the sight of the ground was completely gone. The second it did, she spoke.

"Mercedes. Do you think you could take the reins for a bit?" Mercedes nodded and they switched places easily at the same time. Mercedes grabbed the dragon's horns and kept them steady. She didn't flinch when she felt the pressure of Quinn leaning her head into her shoulder and kept her eyes set on the clouds as the first couple of the princess' tears soaked through her robe.

The only sound uttered for a long while was that of the wind and the princess' quiet sobbing.


	2. Chapter 2

Fire, Air, Water and Earth. That was the order in which the Avatar must master the art of bending. Since Quinn came from the fire Nation, her firebending was practically as good as mastered. At least, Quinn thought so. Mercedes, her royal advisor, unofficial nanny and by default firebending teacher, found it and she quotes 'less than half bad'. That was basically how and why she found herself practising her bending each and every time they were finished setting up camp for the night. This only served to add to the rapidly dissipating mood of the princess. Not that it affected the ever optimistic master of firebending and irritating, she thought angirly.

'Don't think that this Avatar babble is going to get you off the hook.' Mercedes had said. 'You're going to be practising every element in just a little while. Some more firebending isn't going to hurt.'

She paused her daily breathing exercise to give a mighty sigh. Three weeks of traveling and she was already tired of this. Some good start of a trip she absolutely did not want to go through with.

A rustling of leaves had her alert and standing in a second. She looked at her sorroundings. Not a single leaf out of place. She sighed again and shook her head to clear it.

"I hate living in the jungle." She muttered and sat down again.

"I wouldn't really call it a jungle. More like a forest, really." This time her guard wasn't up quite as fast and she stumbled a little as she stood up. She turned towards the source of the voice; a couple bushes, and raised her hands in a ready stance.

"Who's there?" She demanded. A quiet chuckle sounded from the bush.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. Hopefully you will show me the same courtesy." The silouhette of a human came into view, hands raised, and came closer and closer until Quinn could finally make out a black haired girl in simple robes. Quinn remained in battle position and hoped Mercedes would come back from firewood gathering soon. She had never been in an actual fight before(due to living in the palace) and her fighting experience was limited to guards that always let her win. She was pretty sure this person would not do the same.

"Identify yourself. Now." She said in the same hostile tone she had used before. The girl's smile fell and she sighed tiredly.

"Look, I didn't come here for a fight. I just saw the smoke of your fire and hoped to find some people and possibly food." She looked down and mumbled the last part. Quinn studied her closely, searching for any kind of lie. Finding none, she lowered her hands. She mulled it over for a moment. They didn't really have that much food and sharing it with strangers was not really something she considered productive. She eyed the stranger and the stranger stared right back. They stood like that for a few moments as Quinn thought. Then a thought popped up in her head unbidden.

'What would Mercedes do?'

She almost groaned at that but being a princess, she had been raised to keep a straight face. She was about to turn and order the person to leave but that thought kept nagging at her mind, keeping her in place. Instead of sighing again, she echoed it in her mind and nodded at the girl.

"You can stay but don't sneak around like that." She said grudgingly. She then did a one-eighty and went back to sit on the ground, once again picking up her breathing exercises. The girl's face lit up as if the Sun Festival had come early and went to sit by the fire that Mercedes had started before she left. The only sound that followed was that of the fire and Quinn's deep breathing. She had just settled into her deepest exercise when the girl spoke up again.

"I'm Tina by the way." Quinn didn't turn around or open her eyes.

"Quinn Fabray." The girl didn't react and this in itself was enough to get Quinn to halt her exercise and look strangely a Tina. Either this girl wasn't from here or she was completely insane to not know about the Fire Lord's daughter. Tina was staring at the fire, her mind seemingly elsewhere and the smile nowhere to be seen. Deciding to ignore it, Quinn turned again and tried once more to get into the exercise. Thid time she was uninterrupted.

***

When Mercedes returned with the firewood she looked strangely at Tina and Quinn in turn but said nothing. Mercedes was never one to turn down people in need and she smiled at Tina once Quinn explained about her. They shared a meal of Komodo-duck and water with a side helping of some herb or other that Mercedes had found in the forest. Quinn wasn't really listening when the woman ranted about its healing properties of nutritious leaves or something like that and simply drank her water. Tina however listened to every word and Quinn was pretty sure she would have taken notes if she could. Mercedes was all too happy about the attention though and when they were done eating she suggested Tina stay with them for the night.

"There are dangerous animals all around and we'll be staying here for one more night before we set off to the temple." To Quinn's surprise Tina had taken an interest the second Mercedes mentioned the Southern Air Temple.

"I'm headed there too!" She had beamed at them both.

And long story short, they now had a new travelling companion. Quinn relished the thought about as much as she did being the Avatar. So as to say, not so much, thank you.

Tina did turn out to be a good addition after a while though. With her practically worshipping the ground they both walked on for letting her join the party, Mercedes barely even had time to think about firebending or making Quinn practise. Four weeks after their departure Quinn actually found herself sitting by the campfire instead of just going straight to bed; something she had not done since she was a little girl.

"We used to do this every night in my old home." Tina said wistfully. This "old home" of hers had come up the first time when Mercedes asked where she was from and by now they both knew it didn't work to ask. Still, you can't blame them for trying.

"Sweetie, why do you travel with us? The way I see it you miss your home a decent amount." Mercedes said this in that 'worried mother' tone she always used when she was woriried about Quinn. Tina looked down into her food, looking properly ashamed. This was usually a sign for them to back off and they all fell quiet. Then Tina spoke, startling them both.

"I ran away." She said quietly. "I didn't like the way the other girls treated me and I asked my caretaker of I could transfer to another place. She said no. Said something about rules and Traditions and some more things like that. So I ran away. Packed up my stuff and just booked it."

By Tina's description of her home, Quinn guessed she was from some sort of private school. Her shaggy robes contradicted this though and left Quinn pondering over this girl's mysterious past. Judging by the way Tina skillfully evaded their every question, Quinn guessed she wouldn't find out anytime soon.

A girl of many oddities, Tina seemed to prefer sitting at the very back of Kayla, at the tip of her long tail. Mercedes had tried to talk her out of it several times but Tina insisted and Kayla didn't seem to mind. Quinn found she could honestly care less. Hey, the kid had a remarkable way of clinging to stuff that proved quite useful when they needed to gather fruit from trees or keep lookout while setting up camp.

They had officially left Fire Nation borders before they met Tina and so villages were few and far apart. Whenever they were fortunate enough to reach one, Tina would always stay behind and set up her own little camp in the forest. Again, Mercedes questioned and again Quinn did not.

Finally, after nine weeks and three days of travel, they reached their first destination. The Southern Air temple was big, magnificent and so utterly depressing to see. At least for Quinn. Mercedes seemed delighted and Tina smiled happily at the sight.

"I can't wait to see Mike again." She said dreamily. Quinn sighed but smiled anyway. You can only travel so much with such a happy, bubbly girl and not warm up to her a few degrees. No pun intended. She tugged at Kayla's horns, signalling for her to slow down as the temple grew closer and closer. This was only serving to depress her more. A feat, if you considered how depressed she had been lately.

"What's wrong, doll?" She risked a glance backwards at Mercedes who was sitting a little farther back, a worried look on her face. Tina was sitting in the front now with Quinn and she was clutching the fire princess around the waist.

"What gave you the idea that something would be wrong?" She said testily. She was not in the mood for this after waking up this morning with a catsqirrel in her face.

Did she mention she hated the jungle?

"Well for one, your squeezing Kayla's horns so hard I think one of them might crack soon." She looked down at her hands. Sure enough, her grip was tight enough to whiten her knuckles, adding to the effect of Layla's irritated grunting. She hastily loosened her iron fists and slumped, making Tina loosen her grip as well.

"I don't want to do this." She mumbled, mostly to herself. Over the swishing of wind around them Mercedes couldn't hear her. Tina did though.

"What exactly is it that you don't want to do Quinn?" She tilted her head curiously, though the motion was lost on Quinn as her back was turned.

"Oh, we didn't ever tell you that, did we?" Mercedes let go with one hand to rub her chin. She climbed closer to the pair and sat with her legs in the crooks of Kayla's large wings. The dragon familiar didn't react so she made herself comfortable. "Quinnie is the Avatar, dear."

Tina's eyes grew so wide Mercedes feared they would fall out of their sockets. "Really? That's amazing! Wait, is that why you're headed to the temple too?"

"I don't see any other reason for a couple firebenders to visit a temple full of fun-loving nimrods." Quinn said dryly. Mercedes nudged Kayla in the side, making her go a little faster and almost causing the girls to fall off. She whipped her head around so fast she almost thought she would get a whiplash. "What the hell?"

"Don't talk about other people like that, doll." Mercedes said simply. Tina's slackened grip had now tightened enough to hurt but she was chuckling at the princess' expense. Quinn decided to ignore them both and settled for some quiet, irritated grumbling.

Not for the first time, she thought about how she really hated being the Avatar.

***

"Look, up in the sky!" A boy in orange and yellow robes pointed his folded glider in the direction of the clouds outside the window. In the other past of the room, another boy rolled over, disturbed from his sleep.

"Mike, I swear by the Winds, if you do not stop pointing out every cloud that looks like some animal or a blazng fire or Tina, I will personally steal your glider and push you off the highest tower down to the Earth Kingdom and I assure you, it will hurt when you land." Mike glared in indignation and crossed his arms.

"Hey, I do not point out every single cloud that looks like Tina! What I'm pointing at is definetely not a cloud. It's big and...red. Come on Artie, you have to see this!" He waved towards the window and Artie rolled agan to look at him, judging the sincerity in his face. Deeming it good enough, the boy rose from his bed and walked over to the window. He put his hands on the windowsill and scanned the heavens. Mike practically bounced in excitement at his side.

"I don't see anything Mike. What the Winds are you talking about?" Mike sighed dramatically and leaned past his friend to point once more with his staff. Artie followed the direction he was pointing and squinted. There, in the clouds. Was that a...?

"Is that a dragon?" He voiced his question aloud. Mike didn't answer, his eyes growing wide as the creature descended on them. He had never seen a live dragon before. He couldn't wait to tell Tina about this.

"It's landing." Artie mused, then realized what he had said. "It's landing! Mike, a dragon is landing in our temple! We have to go check it out!" And with that, he grabbed Mike's arm and forcibly dragged him out of the room and to the main yard of the temple. The place was a myriad of labyrinths and rooms but having lived here his entire life, Artie knew his way around perfectly. In a matter of minutes they were outside and watching the underside of a giant reptile sink towards them. Both gawked at the thing, amazed by its shape and color. Scarlet red, roughly the size of a very thin flying bison. More and more monks, both young and old, gathered around them and watched together as it landed with a great gust of wind that almost knocked them off their feet.

"Truly a magnificent being." Artie and Mike's master, monk Schuester, mumbled as excited murmurs broke out among the crowd. The dragon lowered its head to reveal a teenage girl in regal travelling robes, a slightly older woman in similar attire and...

"Tina!" Mike jumped on the spot like an excited child and ran forward to meet his girlfriend as she climbed down from her perch behind the teenager. They met in a hug of epic sappiness and Artie shook his head in exhasperation.

"Mikey, I missed you so much! How have you been?" Mike and Tina then set off in detailed description of the past year, it seemed. Artie recognized that this could take a while and decided to focus on the new arrivals.

"Hey there!" He called, strutting over to the dragon in a nonchalant manner that was just to cover up how terrified he was of going near that thing, totally awesome or not. The girl in the front cast him a glance and narrowed her eyes, looking back straight ahead as if she was going to make the dragon rise from the ground again. The woman however, smiled and waved at him.

"Hello yourself. My, what a fine welcoming comittee. Don't you think so Quinn?." She winked at Artie who grinned back. They too began climbing off the reptile, the woman with a little more enthusiasm than the girl and the woman was the first to shake his hand. "I'm Mercedes of the royal palace, here in the errand of finding the Avatar an airbending teacher." Artie resisted the urge to gawk again as she gestured to the girl behind her and bowed to them both.

"Arthur Abrams ma'am but your highness can call me Artie." He grinned again and Mercedes laughed. Now Mike and Tina had taken a break in their chattering to stare at the trio, not unlike most of the temple's inhabitants who were still standing in the middle of the yard, some too awed to move, others simply scared of the dragon.

"You're royalty too? Why don't you ever tell me these things!" Tina waved her arms in the air like an agitated poodle monkey. The girl by the dragon - Quinn, Artie remembered - groaned in frustration.

"Because we thought the dragon, the clothes and the exquisite cooking would give you at least a little hint! Seriously, are you oblivious to everything around you or do you just choose to ignore everything!" Tina's eyes widened and filled with tears at Quinn's outburst. Cue the protective boyfriend to the rescue, thought Artie.

"Hey, you don't get to talk to my girlfriend like that!" Mike yelled, his face going red with anger. Quinn's eyes were blazing now and she strode right up to Mike who was quick to meet her halfway. They stood for a moment, barely an inch between their noses and eyes set on eachother with a serious 'if looks could kill' effect. Quinn was just about to open her mouth and scream at him for everything. Take out the frustration on this boy for every single little bad thing that had happened in her life from her sixteenth birthday up until now. Two months might not be so much of a span for bad things to happen but if you would just sit down and listen to her story you would get exactly what she meant by those thoughts(and her happiness over finally getting to scream somebody's head off). The key words in this being 'about to' of course, she was hastily and rudely interrupted by an airbender who broke through the crowd and ran over to them, putting his hands up in the air.

"Wait my boy. Honoured guest!" He yelled, distraught at the show of violence in such a peaceful place. "Do not start a war in the very first day of building a nation. It will only lead to disaster and misery." Quinn halted her mental rant to stare at the monk weirdly. His head wasn't shaved but sported a crop of wavy, heavily curled hair that glinted in the sunlight and instantly reminded the princess of a briar patch.

"Yes Master Schue." Mike immidiately backed down, looking properly ashamed and suddenly finding his sandals very fascinating. Quinn huffed in annoyance but it seemed everyone ignored her. The man plastered on a smile so big Quin thought he might break his face in half.

"Welcome to the southern Air Temple. We are honoured that the Avatar would come here in search for our humble service." He bowed so low his nose almost touched the ground. Mercedes smiled as he stood up again and bowed back, although a bit higher than Master Schue's had been.

"We are delighted that you would welcome us so readily but we have to inform you of something before we start her training." Everyone, even Quinn, looked at her strangely. Special arrangements were not very common for the Avatar.

"His Highness Firelord Fabray has heard of the span of years for which an Avatar must work to master the four elements." Quinn couldn't help but wince at that. "He loves his daughter very much and thinks it unbefitting for the crown princess to spend so very much time away from home."

"Therefore, he humbly asks that a master of every element follow me and Quinn back to the palace so that she can perfect her abilities under the strong protection of her parents." She finished her small speech with another bow and looked up again to gauge the monk's reaction. Master Schue looked a little put off but his smile was still firmly in place. The other monks varied from intrigued to nothing short of outraged.

"Well, uh." Master Schue scratched his head awkwardly. "It's not really fittinng with any traditions but we will gladly see what we can do." Mercedes nodded in thanks and that was the end of the conversation, it seemed as Master Schue clapped his hands and began shooing the younger boys back into the teple with the help of some other monks. Quinn went to stand by Mercedes, looking over the spectacle.

"You didn't think to tell me that Dad wanted me home?" She mumbled sarcastically.

"Well, he doesn't, really. I just made that stuff up just now. Ain't no Avatar babble going to keep you from home." Mercedes smiled and didn't even stumble when she was tackled and hugged by the princess. "Besides, it's hard to meditate when you sit in camp every morning breathing like a dragon with asthma."

"Hey, your idea. Not mine." They laughed and followed a gesturing Master Schue into the temple.

***

Artie glared at the monk that ushered him back into the temple. The women from the Fire Nation were smiling now and talking to eachother quietly. The elder monks were not going to agree on letting an airbender follow them back to the Fire Nation and they all knew that. Not that the elders were so fond of pissing off the Avatar either. As soon as they were out of sight, Artie ducked behind a pillar and followed the guests into the upper level of the temple.

Having spent so much time around skilled airbenders and being one himself, Artie was quite good at acrobatics and due to being a very mischiveous child, also very skilled in the art of silent treading. A quick leap from one pillar to another and soon he was falling into step with the outsiders following Master Schue.

He had never been in the upper level before and therefore he took his sweet time stalking the newcomers. He noted sadly that there was hardly a difference between this place and the rest of the temple. The hallway to the council room was long and boring and the newcomers were walking slowly, their faces set in formal masks and not saying anything. Finally they reached the door, large and heavy-looking. Master Schue put his hand to a small hole in the wall and bended a strong gust of wind into it. There was the sound of cogs turning and the double doors slid open with an audible creaking that made everyone wince. Master Schue then led them inside and Artie was forced to stay in place to avoid being seen. He cursed under his breath as the doors slid closed again.

He had to find a way in there. Looking around, he spotted a window by the door. He checked the hall for any stray monks and then hoisted one leg over the windowsill. He sat in the opening and surveyed his sorroundings. The tower that stood where the hallway ended was the tallest one in the temple. The room where the coucil of elder monks resided. several climbing plants and stone edges lined the cylinder-like room and it was by means of these that Artie made it to the window on the other side of the tower.

Now came the hard part. Since Artie had never been here before, he didn't know what the layout of the room was. For all he knew, climbing through that window could put him right in the face of the people inside it. To peek or not to peek.

Ah, to heck with it. He was never one for chickening out anyway. He leaned in just far enough to look in with one eye. He saw three monks sitting with their backs to the window. Sweet, he thought, the council was facing the wrong way. He risked a hand through the window to grab onto the wall on the other side and slowly made his way into the room. There were pillars holding the roof up and he used one of these to climb up to the ceiling and settle comfortably at the top of a shorter pillar. There he listened to the words of Master Schue, Master Figgins and Master St. James. It seemed his little climb had taken more time than he thought as they seemed to alreay have told the newcomers they couldn't bring an airbender back. They didn't seem too happy about it as the princess looked like her christmas had been cancelled and Mercedes was putting up a good verbal fight against Master Figgins. Artie sat back and listened as they argued. Finally Master St. James stood up and declared the discussion concluded. The monks and newcomers copied him and Mercedes whispered something to Quinn that made the princess frown but nod.

"We are sorry your highness but we must ask you to leave now." Master Figgins had a stony expression on his face as the girls left the room. Unbeknownst to everyone, Artie followed, having made his decision.

***

The Southern Air temple was big, magnificent and nothing like the Fire Nation palace. The walk through the seemingly endless halls led past a number of different hallways and at every turn she could see towers and hallways through the windows. Every now and then they would walk past some children or young monks practising or playing with airbending. It was a place filled with laughter and joy and Quinn felt completely out of place. The Fire Nation palace was strict, serious and very uptight. Quinn realized that bringing an Air nomad to that place might just liven it up a bit and smiled at the thought. As they neared the huge oak doors to the upper tower or whatever, she got to watch this Master Schue airbend it open and tried to imagine herself doing that. It was kind of hard to picture. They followed him inside and sat down before a group of old monks. Only Master Schue had his head unshaven but most had beards and one even had eyebrows like gigantic caterpillars. They all bowed their heads at eachother in respect before the meeting began. The one with the eyebrows spoke up first.

"Princess Quinn and esteemed Mercedes of the Fire Nation. We are honoured to have you visit out humble temple." He bowed his head again and looked straight a Quinn. "I understand you are here in the matter of aiding the current Avatar. A great honour that you would request our help in your training young Avatar..." He continued like this for a while and Quinn felt the urge to yawn as he was speaking in a flat, slightly drawling monotone. When eyebrows was done telling them what an honour their existence was, the monk next to him spoke up.

"However big the honour, we are afraid that the matter of lending you one of our residents is out of the question." Quinn felt her heart sink so low it nudged at her toes. No. Please don't ruin it now. Mercedes took this as her cue to start speaking.

"But you have to understand friend. We are in a time of need and the Fire Lord does not take no for an answer-"

"Enough." Eyebrows held up a hand to stop her from continuing. "Master St. James is right. We cannot make an exception in tradition simply because the Fire Lod would miss his daughter. The responsibility of being the Avatar involves keeping the balance and traditions of the world. Not breaking it."

"But you don't understand-" Mercedes began. Once more she was interrupted, this time by Master Schuester.

"Dear Mercedes. It is our duty to help fulfill the Avatar's destiny if we can but we cannot, to say it bluntly, obey her every whim. We must do this in keeping with traditions and traditions say that no monk leaves the temple." Quinn felt her anger boiling up. She pursed her lips and looked Eyebrows straight in the eye. That was why she saw the flicker of orange behind his head and her eyes instantly drifted to the window behind them. A hand attatched to an arm clad in monk's robes was slung around the wall and more of the person emerged through the window. She noted with surprise that it was the young monk from before. What was his name again? Adam? Adrian?

He seemed not to have noticed her looking and obviously thought he had gone unseen. He climbed with astonishing agility up to the top of one of the lower pillars of the room. Quinn immidiately looked back to the elder monks so as to not draw attention to him. If his silent entry was any indication, he was not supposed to be in there. Mercedes had taken up the fight with the monks while she was watching the monk and now she and Eyebrows were having an outright shouting match.

"You don't understand the seriousness of the situation. If you cannot grant us this request we will have to find another Air temple." This was obviously taking a turn for the worse. Eyebrows now looked like he wanted to take a break from his peaceful monk ways and sock her nanny in the face. Then the monk named St. James stood up.

"This discussion is over. I am sorry to say this but we must ask you to leave now. You are welcome to stay the night if you wish. Peace be with you." And with that, everyone stood up and Quinn and Mercedes left the room. Quinn walked briskly, her robes billowing behid her back to where Kayla had landed. They would proably take the monks up on that offer but she needed to bring their supplies with them if they were going to stay. Mercedes lingered in the hallway, probably to try and convince them further. She knew it wouldn't work - that St. James guy and Eyebrows were obviously too stubborn.

Young monks jumped out of her way as she stormed by. The main yard was now empty of people except for one person. The boy from before was standing about five feet from Kayla's head. He looked terrified and interested at the same time. Kayla looked thoroughly amused, a polar opposite to her owner.

"Get out of there kid. I think I'm obliged to tell you that a dragon is very protective of its owner and saddle." The boy - Artie, she finally remembered - jumped three feet in the air. No really, he is an airbender. Quinn huffed past him as he landed and set to unloading the contents of the saddle they only ever used to carry stuff; both Quinn and Mercedes preferred to steer by the horns directly as opposed to reins attatched to them.

"Sorry ma'am." He grinned annoyingly at her. "I was just looking, honest." She didn't look at him as she started untying the ropes keeping their things secure but she can hear him bouncing on the balls of his feet and she knew he was looking at her. "I was waiting for you."

She did look at him then and his grin turned into a smile. One eyebrow raised, she stared at him. He didn't take the hint.

"Yes?"

"I know what the monks said to you about your request to bring an airbender with you back to the Fire Nation." The image of him climbing onto a pillar with the speed of a poodlemonkey flashed in her mind.

"I know." She blurted before she had time to stop herself. Well, no use in denying it now. "I saw you climb in through the window." He looked surprised but brushed it off and walked a little closer to Kayla and her. Kayla huffed in irritation and he instantly backed up a step. Quinn sighed and patted Kayla's head, motioning for him to come closer. He tried an experimental step and Kayla ignored him this time, occupied with the attention she was getting. When he was close enough, Artie leaned close to her face.

"I can help you." He whispered. She gave him a decent look of cautiousness.

"And why would you do that?" Why would he even consider leaving his home like she had been forced to do? This might not have been her train of thought in the coucil tower but it had occured to her now that she would be taking someone away from their home. On top of that, probably the only home they ever knew. Artie gave her a cryptic smile.

"I have my reasons. Of course, if you don't want me to..." He turned around and started walking back to the temple. Quinn was startled to see her hand reach out to him.

"No, wait!" He stopped and turned around so fast she thought he must have used airbending for that one.

"Do we have a deal?" He asked, putting his hand out for her to shake. Now she stared at him.

"What do you mean 'deal'?"

"Just as I said. I come along with you guys and in return you don't sak me any questions." He smiled in a way that he probably interpreted as reassuringly. She frowned and mulled it over. This 'deal' left her completely puzzled and what would Mercedes say about all this? Then again, they were leaving in the morning anyway and having an airbender from here instead of crossing half the world in search of one would be a lot better.

She made up her mind and shook his hand. He smirked and leaned in again.

"Meet me by the bison stalls tonight at midnight. I have someone I need to bring along with me." She nodded silently and he walked away. Quinn considered unloading her dragon for a few more moments before shrugging and walking away too.

So much for staying the night.

***

Mercedes had been a hard nut to crack when it came to bringing a mysterious airbender with them but Quinn had won with the argument that the other temples would proably react in the same way to bringing someone back to the Fire Nation. So by midnight they found themselves sneaking out of their sleeping quarters and tiptoeing back to the main yard where Kayla had lay down to rest. The monks had considered moving her to the bison stalls but didn't for a number of reasons. One was that they were all terrified of her. Another was that they didn't know what dragons ate and losing your bison companion would definitely put a damper on any airbender's day.

Quinn nudged her beloved dragon with her knee as she climbed up to sit behind her horns, waking her and alerting her to their prescence. Mercedes chose to sit in the saddle for now. Quinn gave Kayla another nudge and the dragon started creeping along the ground like the reptile she was in the direction Artie had pointed that afternoon.

***

Artie climbed the wall down from his room to the ground of the main yard. He silently thanked the spirits he had been given a room so close to everything as he started running, past the sleeping dragon(who gave a huff as he passed that made him want to run and take cover) and over to the bridge that connected the bison stalls with the rest of the temple. Air bison were fond of the open sky and so they were kept just outside the temple when they slept. By day they would spend all ther time with their owners or in the youngsters case, mothers. Artie crossed the bridge with speed unachieved by even the fastest of runners(and a tiny bit of airbending) and stopped short of slamming headfirst into the stall double doors. It made an obnoxious creaking noise when opened that he was pretty sure should have woken that dragon in the yard and possibly the whole temple. Thankfully no one seemed to have woken up and he snuck inside the stall.

It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for, having been here countless times before. The far left corner was covered in hay(as was most of the floor) and held a very large and very asleep bison. Nestled in between her legs were a group of mush smaller bison and right nest to them was another that looked somewhere between late teen and young adult. This was the one he approached.

He ran a hand through the soft fur beneath the animal's ear.

"Babe?" He whispered softly. "Brittany, you need to wake up." The bison sighed in its sleep and rolled over to the side, exposing a large brown leathery chest to him. He patted it fondly and shook the animal best he could(which wasn't very much).

"I know you're tired but you have to wake up. We're leaving tonight." This apparently got her attention and she rolled back into her original position, one brown eye opening to look at him.

"I found some people that are willing to help us" He said soothingly. "but we need to come with them tonight or they'll leave and we'll probably be stuck here forever."

She regarded him for a little while. Then she gave a huge sigh and started heaving herself up into a standing position. He smiled happily as she shook herself free of hay and stretched her legs.

"That's a girl." He said and climbed up on her bare back. "Come on, let's go."

The bison gave one last huff and started walking out of the stall.

***

The sight that met Quinn and Mercedes when they reached the bison stalls was one that even the stoic princess could only describe as utterly adorable. Outside the stall stood an air bison, roughly the size of a two single beds piled on eachother and about as tall as a human, looking only big enough to carry one or two humans on its back. Beside it stood Artie, bag slung on his shoulder and both hands patting the bison's head affectionately. He was whispering something to it and looking so happy with that thing. It reminded Mercedes pf Quinn and Kayla.

Said dragon gave a gentle sigh to alert them to their prescence and Artie turned around, looking a mix between scared and unmistakably happy. Quinn managed a smile at the two of them.

"Is this your friend?" He nodded.

"Don't think I'll be goin' anywhere without my baby. That and I'm scared shitless of riding that thing." He gestured to Kayla and Mercedes laughed. Quinn nodded and tugged at Kayla's horns, making her turn around and crouch to the ground like a spring ready to shoot away. Artie climbed on top of the little bison(cute!) and said something Quinn didn't quite catch to it. It was apparently a command as the animal took to the sky a second later. Quinn nudged Kayla with her feet and they took off after the pair.

Artie took one last look at the temple as it disappeared amongst the clouds. He snorted to himself.

"Good riddance."


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N: _Okay, chapter three is up. I guess I should introduce myself now. I'm Oblivious Princess and this is the result of watching a lot of ATLA with my cousin(I just got her hooked) and then having a marathon of Glee by myself. I have some things sbout it that I want to make clear._

_1. This does not exactly follow the events of ATLA. Nor does it come after. You see, it comes _before. _Quinn is the Fire Avatar about two cycles before Roku. It was the closest i could get since we see an unnamed Fire Avatar in a flashback in _The Avatar State_. I'm sorry if I can't quite get my history correct but the characters from Avatar will appear sooner or later. I'm toying around with the idea of adding them in the prolouge when Quinn is dead. She could do a killer avatar State flipout for Aang, no?_

_2. There will be no Japanese names. Mostly becaus I don't really know a single one that hasn't already been used. I'm still contemplating what to do with the places I make up._

_I couldn't really come up with more to explain right now(though I'm sure I've missed some things). I'll add more in later chapters. Happy reading!_

_I do not own Avatar or Glee.)_

"Help!"

"Somebody help us!"

"She's going to kill us all!"

The first things Sabrina registered upon waking up were darkness and screaming accompanied by the sound of crashing and tearing of fabric. She shot up from her bed and looked around frantically for her robe. Wrapping it around herself, she looked out the window. People were running and the building next to her house was on fire.

Sabrina gasped and hurried down the stairs into the kitchen where her parents were. Her mother was looking out the window, hands over her mouth in horror and her father was packing things in a small bag. He looked relieved upon seeing her.

"Sabrina! Thank the Sun! Now come on! Cecile, we have to get out of here!"

They hurried out onto the main street, holding hands as to not lose eachother in the crowd, and ran as fast as they could away from the fire. Sabrina stumbled behind her father as she looked around at the chaos that engulfed them. Several more buildings were alight. She gave a scream that went unheard amongst the others as her foot got caught in a hole in the ground and her father's iron grip on her hand disappeared. She fell in a heap on the ground and instantly tried to shield herself from the onslaught of panicked people and animals that threatened to trample her under their feet. Not without a struggle, she managed to get up into a standing position again and started looking for her vanished parents.

"Mom!" She cried. Tears were welling up in her eyes now. "Dad!"

No answer except for the yelling and bustling of the crowd. She gasped as she was pushed into a wall and leaned against it as she tried to catch her breath and see were she was.

Then she saw her.

Just a shadow in the distance, this person was not running or screaming like any of the other people but merely walking slowly behind them. They didn't even flinch as a building collapsed behind them. Sabrina watched in horror as the person dug their foot into the ground, the hard earth crumbling as if it were mere sand, and stomped the other one. A rumbling was heard and the very earth beneath several citizens divided itself in a large crack that swallowed them up as easy as nothing. The person made a hard gesture with both hands and the crack sealed up again, trapping the people inside to die of suffocation beneath the very ground they had probably walked on for years. The person then repeated this on another group of people, further panicking the crowd who only screamed louder and ran faster.

Sabrina had watched this while completely rooted to the spot and had to muffle a scream as the person had advanced far enough so that there were only about twenty feet between them. Her eyes and the rest of her face were hidden by the hood of her cloak. Her figure had been what gave her away as female. Sabrina couldn't will herself to move as she took a low stance and thrust her hands towards the dissipating crowd.

A gust of wind, probably strong enough to blow several trees away, flew over them like a wave and people rose from the ground in a new flurry of screams. Another building crumbled close to Sabrina and she silently prayed for her own survival. She was still clutching at the wall and a decoration of a stone dragon had helped her keep in place against the wind. The onslaught only continued with another splitting of the ground, this one large enough to sink another building straight into the ground so far that the third story windows were low enough to enter it through.

Now this girl was just a few feet away from where Sabrina was standing and she wondered in panic how she could possibly have moved so fast from one place to another. She clenched her eyes shut in fear.

Only to open them a few seconds later when she got hoisted up from the ground by her robe collar.

"Hello." The person said in a tone that in any other situation would have been considered soothing. "Are you lost, little girl?"

Sabrina could not speak, only shake her head weakly. If it was to answer the question or deny that this was real, she couldn't really say right now. The girl grinned and it made Sabrina's blood run cold; there was such wicked pleasure in that smile.

"Oh don't worry. I'm sure we can find someone to take care of you." She chuckled and adjusted her grip, letting Sabrina sink to her knees on the ground. Sabrina crumbled like a sack of potatoes upon being lowered and fruitlessly tried to pry the hand from her collar, tears now streaming down her face.

"Please." She said weakly. "Please."

The woman smirked and now that she was on the ground Sabrina got a look at her eyes. What she saw was enough to get her panicking anew and she struggled even more. The woman raised her hand above her head, prepared to strike. Sabrina closed her eyes and braced herself.

Four hundred people fled the small town that night.

Fifty-seven people were confirmed dead two days after the incident.

Thirty-two were found injured and trapped in different types of spaces.

Some were never found.

Quinn woke up that morning with a smile on her face. Three days had passed since they left the air temple and this was the day that Artie had promised her a head start on her airbending training. That was why she dressed herself that morning, still with a small smile on her face. When she left the tent she was met by the sight of a roaring campfire(resurrected from last night) and three fishes being cooked on a stick above it. Mercedes was turning the spit in an even rhythm and Artie sat next to her gazing into the fire. They both looked up and smiled as she entered the scene.

"Good morning Quinn." Artie said politely and Quinn rewarded him with a wider smile.

"Morning."

"Someone seems to be in a good mood today." Mercedes grinned knowingly and Quinn scoffed before sitting down so that they formed a triangle around the fire. They smiled at each other and the three enjoyed their meal together, talking and laughing about any and everything. When they were done Artie and Quinn stood up at the same time, earning another grin from both. Artie gave a low waist bow.

"Shall we my lady?" He looked up and chuckled. She raised an eyebrow and laughed with him. Something about the prospect of being able to bend several elements thrilled her in a way she didn't believe would happen when she found out she was the Avatar. She nodded curtly, playing along with his charade and they started walking away together. Mercedes stood up and brushed off her travelling robes.

"Well, I'm off to go shopping then." She muttered to no one in particular and started walking in the opposite direction from Artie and Quinn. She did promise herself she would go to the nearest town and but some more food today before Artie revealed he could fish. Still, lady has got to do some shoppin'.

Quinn and Artie didn't go very far. There was an open field just a few yards from where they had set up camp, simply hidden by the trees and bushes of the forest. Once they were there, Artie immediately ran into the middle of the field, twirling and dancing to get to his destination. It looked so silly that Quinn couldn't help but laugh. She followed him at a somewhat slower pace and smiled when he fell onto hi back in the grass, grinning like a little kid.

"Sorry to interrupt the dance lesson but I thought I was supposed to learn airbending?" It really was more a joking question than a statement and Artie merely smiled at her.

"Well that, my dear lady, is exactly what I am showing you right now." He wiggled his arms and legs a little to illustrate his point. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"What?" He popped up from the ground(definitely airbending there) and nodded sagely at her.

"As I said. Exactly what I am doing right now." Now she just looked confused. He rolled his eyes and elaborated.

"Air is the element of freedom and peace. You have to have a free mind. A good sense of humor and playfulness never hurt either." He winked at her. "You just have to get loose and be free to do this."

Now Quinn felt slightly hesitant. The royal palace never really left much time to be "free and loose" between her etiquette lessons and general education. The most free time she had, she spent reading books and studying. Then Artie started dancing around her in some strange mix of an Indian dance and an endless twirl.

"Come on princess, let loose a little!"

She hesitated but grabbed his hand when it was offered and the two began dancing again. It was awkward and stumbling at first but Quinn soon got the hang of it, dancing around with Artie in a mix of a waltz and a tango with a big smile on her face. She had never done something like this before and it was elating for her to say the least. They stopped and she yelped when he pulled her down on the grass. They lay on their backs and looked up in the sky, both still laughing lightly.

They stayed like that for a while until Artie sat up and grinned.

"Well, do you want to try now?" Quinn nodded and he held out a hand for her to take, helping her stand up and making her assume a light stance. It was unlike anything Quinn had ever learned as a firebender.

"Alright, just breathe and try to clear your head." Quinn did as she was told(though not without a mental groan at the "breathe" comment) and tried to make her head go completely blank. It proved very hard to do; her mind kept switching back to "oh my god did I just dance!" mode. Artie chuckled as she pouted and tried once more. Her inner eye stared at a proverbial wall of nothingness.

"There, now move your hands and arms like this and focus your positive energy." He stood beside her and moved his arms in a slow circular motion around each other. Quinn copied him and they settled into a rhythm. Suddenly Quinn felt it; a small draft between her hands, very tiny but at least she was doing it right.

She was airbending.

She almost lost focus when she realized she had done it but no, she had been raised to be more disciplined than that. The draft didn't grow much stronger but it was pleasant between her fingers. Artie smiled at the peaceful look on her face. They continued moving, two airbenders practicing their art in a natural dance of spiritual happiness.

Quinn and Artie walked along the road back to camp in a comfortable silence. Quinn still had a hard time processing what had just happened and it seemed Artie was happy to let her ponder it on her own.

Quinn smiled for the n-nth time that day. When she'd found out about being the Avatar, she'd freaked out. She screamed, cried and looked herself up in her room until Mercedes had convinced her to take up her responsibilities as a world saving spirit thing or whatever it was. At the time she didn't even think to imagine what it would be like to actually learn another type of bending. Airbending turned out to be lots of fun, she thought happily. Did that mean that earth and water would be as much fun? Well, probably not water. She had heard stories of how your opposite element would be a little harder for you than the others.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the boy beside her as he suddenly grabbed the sleeve of her robe and tugged. She gave him a questioning look and he gestured a little further up the road. She looked and saw a carriage, probably from a nearby village travelling through the forest. Two horses, one brown and the other black were pulling it and in the front sat a small crooked man. That was basically the only way she could describe him. He sat like someone had broken his back over and over again and let it heal together at odd angles. He gave them a strange look as he passed them. Quinn gave him a polite smile back(as she had been raised) and Artie gave a happy wave back at him. As the carriage passed Quinn saw a glimpse of a pair of blue eyes before someone pulled the curtain closed and the carriage was behind them. They continued to walk back to camp, not even giving it a second thought.

The Fire Nation is a mighty nation and elements be damned if it is nothing but organized. The sophisticated system of economics, communication and political intelligence is nothing to scoff at if you have any sense of appreciation(or survival) whatsoever. The people are happy and rich and the ruling royal family is firm and precise. So why, if something strange happens in any of all the locations of the land, should the royal palace not be informed of the incident? Why no reason at all! That is why, on one dull summer day that a messenger hawk bearing a very important message landed in the window of the tower affectionately known as the 'birds nest' among the palace residents. Inside sat an assortment of birds, some screeching aloud, some picking at birdseed on the floor and in food bowls and some even sleeping perched on twigs that had been nailed to the walls. A man sat on a chair by the window, fast asleep with his hat drawn down over his eyes. The bird gave him an expectant look for a little while. When it became clear that the man wasn't waking up the bird started picking impatiently at his hat and shoulder. The man jerked and almost fell out of his chair before hastily standing up and noticing the bird in the window. He gave a mighty sigh and muttered a curse under his breath before he reached out to take the message in the canister on the hawk's back. It was surrendered without a struggle and he unfolded it, fixing the paper with unamused eyes. They changed from unamused to confused to intrigued to outright horror in five seconds flat as he read and he stumbled over several birds as he ran to the bottom of the tower. He almost fell over a thoroughly shocked stable boy as he crossed the grounds on his way to the main building.

Sitting by the main gate was a very much bored royal guard. He sat leaning against the wall of the building and watched boredly as his colleague on the other side of the gate made a show of picking his teeth with the long spear they both had as standard guard equipment. Both remained seated as the man from 'the nest' came running only to double over in a panting mess before them. One blinked. The other sighed tiredly.

"Hey Barry. What's up?" The younger of the two tried to sound cheerful but he was just so very bored. 'Barry' gave him a decent glare as he stood up and brushed off his clothes.

"I have a message from the eastern regions. It arrived just now with a black ribbon tied to it. Some kind of disaster has happened in one of the smaller towns."

This got the guards attention, though still not enough to actually rouse anyone from their comfortable positions. The older of the two reached for the message and unfolded it to read. He got through the second row before the letters blurred together before his tired eyes and he folded it again, tossing it to his friend.

"Take care of it, will ya?" The other one said nothing as he caught the letter in one hand and made a show of standing up before entering the palace main building. Satisfied that his job was done, Barry went back to the Bird's nest. He had some sleep he needed to catch up on.

Through a number of exchanges varying from similar to this one to completely serious, the message finally made it to the throne room. Fire Lord Fabray sat straight up in his throne and watched with a stoic expression as the messenger(a boy about sixteen whose father had contacts) stumbled into the room and hurried to deliver the message to his ruler. As he read the date of writing(yesterday at this time) and thought about how this would have been much slower(although less comical) in the Earth Kingdom he couldn't help but feel a little bit proud.

Yes, they were indeed an organized nation.


	4. Chapter 4

A few days after their lesson they were on the road again. Well, actually they were in the air but the meaning is very much the same. Artie insisted on riding that tiny bison of his but Quinn didn't mind and Mercedes found it incredibly cute. Even if the bison was still large enough to crush her under its weight.

It was a still ride. Mercedes was sitting in the saddle for once and gazing at the clouds as they passed by. Quinn sat by the head, hands on Kayla's horns and a bored expression on her face. Artie and Brittany followed behind them, not actually knowing the way by themselves.

Everyone was lost in their own head until Artie suddenly gave a startled cry and Brittany started descending towards the ground.

Mercedes was roused from her daydream and gave the two a confused look. Artie said nothing(as if they could hear him in this wind) but only motioned for them to follow him and Brittany down to wherever they were going. Mercedes was still confused but all her mind could register was that the airbender was getting away and she hastily climbed over to where Quinn was still looking forward, seemingly having not noticed the exchange.

Quinn felt something poking at her shoulder and turned around only to get an eyeful of a fleeing airbender and a hopelessly shrugging Mercedes. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she gave Kayla's horns a harsh tug and made them turn around, pressing down then to make them lose height. Trust the airbender to suddenly dash off without a word.

/

Flying was fun. That much had been decided during the very earliest years of Arthur Abram's life. No matter how many times you did it there was always a new trick to find out or a new place to go and it was oh so much fun to do it.

Now that he had fled the temple, flying was occupying pretty much the bigger part of their days. This pleased him, although it wasn't much different from what he did at the temple. The difference was the view.

As they flew, Artie would do his best to look everywhere and memorize as much of the land as he possibly could. This was probably the reason he was the only one who noticed the moving spots in the landscape beneath them. They were very far up and so he couldn't make out exactly what they were - humans or animals. He could however see the outlines of a boat that was floating along an impossibly long river. It was small enough to pass for a private fishing boat but big enough to pass for a very expensive private fishing boat. That was why Artie could see perfectly the way it suddenly rocked violently and started tilting onto a very dangerous angle. It was obvious they had crashed into something underwater, a small part of Artie's mind thought. The rest of it however was too busy thingking 'Oh sweet winds. Those fishers gone out the deep end!' in that exact wording.

So he cried out in shock and went on autopilot as his hands slackened on Brittany's reins and she started descending to the world below. He looked up at the dragon and saw Mercedes look at him as if he had just grown another head. He gestured for her to follow and slackened his grip further to speed up their diving. Brittany took the hint - the sweetheart - and started going impossibly fast in a straight line downwards. Even as he panicked a little bit he couldn't help but think that this is what he loves about flying dammit!

/

Quinn could only look confusedly at the disappearing spot that was the air bison and rider. Mercedes was sitting next to her now and gaped in shock. Even Kayla seemed to have opened her mouth in silent admiration.

"Did he just?" Mercedes closed her mouth and shook her head.

"Just follow him 'doll, and make sure he teaches you that sometime." Quinn shrugged and dug her heels into Kayla's neck, making them go faster.

/

"Stop that!"

"You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did-"

"Children please!"

Tom Hanson, father, husband and fisherman extraordinaire turned his head to look at his squabbling family. He told Risa that it would be a bad idea to bring the children, didn't he? He was pretty sure he did.

"But he won't stop pulling my hair mama!"

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

Ah, the joy of family.

He watched as his wife tried to forcibly keep their daughter and son apart and didn't even notice the large rock sticking out of the water until it was too late. Everyone screamed as they got launched to the side of the deck and Tom had to cling to the wheel to keep from slamming painfully into the wall. Unfortunately this pulled the wheel too far to the side, adding to the leaning of the boat tremendously. He scrambled onto his feet and started scanning the water around the boat in search for the perpetrator. He didn't find it but the problem was still there and so he hurried to try and steer the boat into an upright position again. That was the time that another rock appeared, this time hitting was would have been the side in an upright position but was now closer to the underside of the boat.

Risa and the children were screaming and Tommy Jr had started crying now. Both the children were hanging on for dear life to their mother as she did the same to the railing of the boat. By now there was no hope of straightening out again as they were heading for more rocks and a waterfall so Tom abandoned the wheel and hurried to gather his family so that they could get to the only lifeboat together. This was easier said than done as he had to climb through a boat laying on its side within a strong current. He managed to reach them though and he and Risa took on child each before climbing further.

This proved to all have been in vain as the boat suddenly hit what presumably was another rock. The shock was so violent it almost tossed the family off the boat.

It was also violent enough to snap the ropes of the lifeboat.

Tom watched as their only hope for survival floated away and (irritatingly enough) was smashed to pieces against yet another rock.

/

The landing wasn't exctly soft but it was swift. Artie would have to learn to actually slow Brittany down in a dive someday. This wasn't the primary concern right now though so for the moment he settled on landing in some trees. Like he said, it wasn't exactly soft but it was soft enough for him not to get hurt.

Brittany had gotten stuck within the branches of the tree and was now struggling to get loose. There was no time to help her so Artie apologized and promised to return before jumping out of the tree and sprinting towards the river, which had now revealed to be unexpectedly huge.

The boat was taking in water now, judging by the gaping holes in it. The water was too dangerous to swim and even if he got to the boat by jumping there was no way he would be able to get the family(who seemed to be the only ones on deck) to safety.

He cast a panicked glance to the sky and saw that the dragon and its passengers were still too high in the air to get to them in time. He started bouncing in place, a nervous habit, as he tried to think of a way to manage the situation.

Kayla was fast. Mercedes couldn't deny that much. There were however moments when a dragon just wasn't fast enough. They were preciously few but they existed. This was what went through Mercedes' mind as she looked at the boat sinking in the water and the boy hopelessly panicking on the beach of the river. Quinn said nothing, her face a stony mask as she urged her dragon familiar to go faster. Still, Mercedes knew they weren't going to be fast enough.

She patted Quinn's shoulder as a sort of alerting to what she was doing and stood up in place. Quinn looked confused for a moment but it turned to shock as soon as Mercedes took aim and jumped straight off the dragon mid-flight. She quickly angled herself into a dive and tried to make herself as thin as possible. Quinn leaned forward to watch her teacher in shock and fear but Mercedes didn't turn around.

This family wasn't dying today.

/

Tom and his family had now managed to climb to the side of the boat that pointed to the sky but the boat was angling now so that the rear as well as the side was rapidly sinking. They scuffled along the railing as the sinking progressed so as to get as far away from the probably freezing water as possible. Tom knew it was a lost cause though. They were going to die here.

As they moved, he took the time to tightly hug each and every one of his beloved family. It was a little inconvenient to their task but that didn't really matter now. He declared over and over again how mcuh he loved them and they all answered him with the same level of love and devotion.

This was also the time around which Tom was pretty sure your life is supposed to flash before your eyes. It doesn't. Instead he found you hallucinate because that was the only explanation he could find to the woman currently falling out of the sky.

He paused his climb to just watch her as she sailed in a straight line towards the boat and now he really hoped he was hallucinating because if this woman was somehow real then there was no way in tha name of the Sun that she would ever survive that fall. That in turn meant that he would die right next to a bloody mangled corpse. Short version: could this day get any worse?

But then the woman went and blew his mind.

About two thirds of her descent, she volted into what would have been a standing position and thrust all four limbs downwards. Fire sprouted from her hands and feet and the woman started losing speed. By the time she had reached the boat the fire had absorbed all her momentum and she landed safely on the railing from which the family was now hanging.

"Hurry!" She said and reached out a hand to them while crouching low. Tom hurried to hand him little Tommy and then followed Lucy. Risa was next and she went back to clutching her children as Tom was pulled up. The woman surveyed the situation and then motioned to Risa.

"I can only take one person at a time. I promise to come back." She smiled reassuringly as Risa nodded her understanding, though still looking completely terrified, and handed her Tommy. Tommy was in turn instructed to climb onto the woman's back and hold on tight.

Everyone watched in amazement as the woman once more ignited her limbs and went flying towards the beach where a brown haired boy was now jumping in excitement.

/

Artie greeted Mercedes with a relieved smile and hurried to help the boy on her back onto the ground.

"How did you do that?" He asked in admiration. She shrugged.

"Girl has got some tricks. Do you think you can use your airbending to do something similar?" Artie looked hesitant.

"I don't know. I've never carried anyone before."

"Well then you had better find out if you can and fast."

Artie still looked scared but nodded. Mercedes took aim and blasted off the beach again because there was kind of still a sinking boat behind her. This time Artie followed her.

/

Sometimes, Quinn decided, the Avatar can use some help in helping people.

Especially if she was still in midair and her dragon was too slow to be able to help anyone.

So she leaned back and relaxed, watching the spectacle.

/

The woman and the boy had returned now and this time Tom and Risa were ready for them. The boy looked a little nervous but he took Lucy and shot off without using any fire. A small part of Tom's mind was amazed that he got to see a real live airbender. The rest of it was focusing on getting his wife onto the woman before she jumped back to the beach. Women and children first, they always said.

The boy wobbled a little in the air but otherwise was fine and Tom breathed a sigh of relief when he set down Lucy next to Tommy and kneeled down to say something to both kids. Tom smiled as his wife was deposited near them and the woman came flying once more. He took her hand readily and clung tightly to her as they sailed back to the same spot. They had been saved.

/

The reunited family was sharing a tight group hug when Quinn(finally!) landed on the ground next to them. She raised an impressed eyebrow at them both and Artie turned to grin at Mercedes.

"You never told me you could fly. If I knew that much I would have kicked you off my dragon for not teaching me." Quinn said only half-jokingly. Mercedes smiled.

"You're not quite at that level yet 'doll."

Then the man of the family stood up and walked towards Mercedes and Artie.

"Thank you." He said fervently as he shook their hands in turn. "Thank you so much."

Mercedes grinned and Artie shrugged. "No problem." Mercedes said.

"Just don't go fishing in too large rivers." Artie smiled. The man nodded, a smile on his face as well.

"Is there anything we can do to show our gratitude?" The woman had now brought the children closer and taken the man's hand. Mercedes shook her head no.

"But surely there must be something we could give you." The man insisted. He dug into his pocket and fished around for a few moments before extracting a rolled up piece of parchment and a small blue stone.

"This is a map of the area." He held up the archment. Then the stone. "I found this in a fish I caught once. I assure you we cleaned it off." He added the last part as Quinn had immidiately pulled a disgusted face at the statement. He grinned at her, then turned back to Mercedes.

"It's not much but it might be able to help you in some way." He handed her the items. She bowed and he copied the motion. The trio watched as the family departed down the beach, happy to live and fish another day.

"Nice job guys." Quinn smiled as Mercedes started climbing up on the dragon, settling down to sit in the saddle once more. Artie was still smiling until...

"Oh my god, Brittany!" He yelled and dashed away in the direction of the nearby forest. The ladies stared after him, confused and slightly exhasperated.

"What now?" Mercedes groaned. Quinn rolled her eyes.

Airbenders.

/

In another part of the world, things weren't looking quite so well.

"I want you to go out and look for him."

The man sat perfectly still, hands clasped before him as he regarded the boy. The boy blinked.

"Why me?" He asked. "Not that I don't miss him because _boy do I miss him_but I don't see why I'm supposed to do it."

The man's eyes softened considerably. "Because he is our responsibility. He was then and he is now. Plus the fact that you are nothing if not the greatest fighter in this whole damn city. We are at war here son and I need you to help me where you are needed."

The boy frowned. He didn't really want to leave home right now. Then he thought of the man he was supposed to find, the face of the man's mother and his own, and made up his mind. It was slightly frightening the amount of thngs he would do for this boy. He looked back up at his father with strong determined eyes.

"I'll do it."

The man smiled and nodded. He stood up and walked out of the room, probably going to arrange a transport into the Earth Kingdom. The boy sighed once he was alone. The things you do for not-quite-yet-family.


End file.
